Improvement in obtaining turpentine from trees



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ROBERT J. STEELE, JR., OE ROOKINGHAM, NORTH CAROLINA.

Leners Para: No. 87,219, camz' Fama/ry 23, 1869.

IMPROVEMENT IN OBTAIN'INGF TURPENTINE FROM TREES.

The Schedule referred to in the-se Letters Patent and making part` of the same.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that l, ROBERT J. STEELE, Jr., ofR-ockingham, in the county of Richmond, and State of North Carolina, have invented Vnew and useful Improvements in Obtaining Turpentine from Trees; and I do hereby -declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use'the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification. y

Figure l represents a front view of my invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional view of the same, through the line x sv, ig. l.`

Similargletters of reference indicate corresponding parts.

This invention relates to the obtaining of turpentine from pine-trees, whereby the product of the second and succeeding workings, so called, of the trees, is of the saine superior quality as that obtained 'by the first seasons working7 The invention also affords the means of working or obtaining turpentine from trees charred by lire, which were not, until my invention, available as turpentinetrees, but were neglected, or cut down for obtaining tar.

It has been the practice hitherto to obtain turpentine by irs't cutting a deep cavity, called a box, in the tree, near the roots of the same. This box is shown at a. Above the box were out a pair of grooves, b b, inclined downward, the meeting ends of the grooves being in a 'line above the box, as shown. A pair of grooves was cut eachV week, and asthe' season advanced, the number of such pairs of grooves would indicate the number of weeks the tree had been worked.

The t1u'peutine-exud'ing from these grooves of the first just above the last pair of the first seasons grooves, and connecting it with the Abox a by a vertical channel, c, and passing through the junction of the two grooves of each pair I), as shown.

The second seasons grooves f are now cut, from vweek to weekfin the usual manner, aud the turpentine runs down to the shallow box Land thence, by

the vertical channel e, to 4the rst box a, thus avoiding the slow passage overl the grooves ofthe previous season, for the deterioration of the second seasons product has heretofore been due to its being thus retarded, andexposed for a longer time to the suns rays and the atmosphere'. Y

The shallow box (l consists substantially of two inclined channels, somewhat deeper than ordinary grooves, and having their lower ends communicating with the channel e. The product of the second season, when thus obtained, is as clear and pellucid as virgin-dip, and the sameiiu quality.

The grooves of the .third season are cut as before,

and a central vertical channel, as e, made through the grooves f, of the second year, to the box d el.

The turpentiue passes down in this channel through the box d d, and thence down to the deep box a.

It will be observed, then, that as the seasons advance, the arrangement of the grooves and boxes, as shown, will be maintained as long as the tree is worked, and virgin-dlp being obtained each season.

This arrangement also permits the utilization of charred trees, which have hithertoV been considered as valueless for obtaining turpentine, as the product would not flow over a charred surface, but became inspis-V 

